


Your End of the Bargain

by EmeraldRoseQuartz



Series: The Epicurean Adventures of Rose [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, F/M, Inspired by Fanfiction, Miscommunication, Multi, everything works out, maybe baby stealing?, mmf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:14:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23378956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldRoseQuartz/pseuds/EmeraldRoseQuartz
Summary: Your favorite gourmet-food-inspired secret agent/witch-in-training is at it again! A quick errand turns out to be quite a bit more complicated than Rose thought...
Relationships: Steve/Bucky/OFC
Series: The Epicurean Adventures of Rose [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681477
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	Your End of the Bargain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Caffiend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caffiend/gifts), [misreall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misreall/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Welcome to the Jungle](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23113549) by [Caffiend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caffiend/pseuds/Caffiend). 



> Yet another Rose adventure inspired by the unstoppable Caffiend! Her DarkCap zombie-apocalypse AU "Don't Make a Sound" and its follow up "Welcome to the Jungle" got those creative juices flowing, and here it is, my own little drabble to add to the story. I am SO GRATEFUL she let me play with her characters yet again!
> 
> And, of course, misreall's version of Baba Yaga and Truck make an appearance (from her masterpiece opus "Loki and Nora's Infinity Stone Playlist" and "Physics is like sex" IncubusLoki story). Because I CANNOT get enough of B.Y.
> 
> Here are the links to all these fabulous works - if you haven't read these already, I highly recommend checking these out. Obviously. I'm an unabashed fangirl of these works.
> 
> Caffiend: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caffiend/pseuds/Caffiend  
> Don't Make a Sound: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22222234/chapters/53059429  
> Welcome to the Jungle: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23113549
> 
> Misreall: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misreall/pseuds/misreall  
> Loki and Nora's Infinity Stone Playlist: https://archiveofourown.org/series/520786  
> Physics is like sex: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1179989

“ _Ew_. Ew ew ew ew...”

Rose delicately tip-toed around the decomposing bodies surrounding the heavily fortified Avengers compound. It was miserably hot and humid in upstate New York this time of year, and the climate didn’t make the already-stomach-clenching scene any more bearable. Even in the heavy boots and combat gear she was wearing, she swore she could feel viscous fluids squelching into her shoes. The stench was overwhelming, and the unmoving corpses around her seemed to be creating their _own_ heat…

It was definitely the most disgusting experience of her life.

_I’m going to kill B.Y. for this…_ she growled in her thoughts as she stepped over a still-chomping zombie head half-buried in the gory mud. _And then I’m going to revive her, and kill her again. Why can’t_ SHE _do any of the goddamn dirty work? Ewwwww!_ She blanched as her foot sunk ankle-deep into...something. She swallowed hard to keep herself from puking and yanked her foot out of it, forcing herself not to look down at what it was.

“Hey! You got any bites?” a voice yelled as she approached.

Rose looked up to see two guards on top of the wall surrounding the compound, leaning out of a guard tower. She just grimaced at him in the most charismatic way she could manage under the circumstances.

“Nope. No bites,” she yelled back. “I’m here to see Bucky Barnes...is he here?”

There was a hesitating silence before the guard called back, “Who’s asking?”

Rose chuckled. Honestly, why did it matter? It was the literal zombie apocalypse, and she knew they were going to take her in regardless, under the pretenses that she might be a viable “breeder”...ugh. She shuddered thinking about it. Too many memories of being used for her body...never again.

“Tell him I’m friends with Baba Yaga. That oughta jog his unreliable memory.”

After a hushed conversation she couldn’t hear, one of the guards took off while the other remained, watching her silently.

Nothing but the sounds of cicadas and an occasional bird chirping broke the awkward tension while they waited. She stood there in the intense heat, covering her eyes from the glaring sun with her hand and squinting up at him - he didn’t even look down at her. She wondered if he would move or talk or... _anything_ really.

  
  
“Can I, uh...come in? I’m unarmed,” _As far as you can tell_ , she added with a snark in her thoughts.

  
  
“Wait there. Once we have authorization from General Barnes, then we’ll let you in.”

_Oh, GENERAL Barnes. La-Dee-Dah. Aren’t we feeling high and mighty at the end of the world?_

“Can I at least have some water? It’s hot as hell out here!” Rose complained, and she swore she could see him roll his eyes. He bent down out of sight and she heard the plastic whining squeak of a beach cooler opening, ice being moved around, then the cooler closing again. When he came back up, he was holding a dripping plastic bottle of clean water. He tossed it down to her, and she caught it easily, twisting off the still-sealed cap and guzzling several large gulps of the cold, fresh, liquid refreshment.

“Thank you!” she shouted back up at him, just as the giant gate in front of her began to slowly open, and a cadre of guards came out to greet her.

Well..,“greet” wasn’t the right word…

“Hands on your head, NOW! You’re being taken into custody by order of General Barnes.”

Ah. So he _did_ remember B.Y…

**_—Twenty minutes later—_ **

Rose leaned back in the metal chair, the two front legs lifting off the ground as she used the table and her heels to stay balanced. At the gate, she’d been handcuffed and led right to this (blessedly air-conditioned) interrogation room from the gate, and while she was glad to be out of the blistering sun, she was quickly getting antsy. She had started practicing her somatic spell movements purely out of boredom when the door opened and the illustrious Mr. Barnes entered, followed by two heavily-armed guards. She quickly mended the chain between the cuffs before they could see she had separated them.  
  


“Finally…” Rose said, stretching her connected arms above her head and letting out a fatigued groan. “What the hell took you so long, I—”

“Who are you, and why did Baba Yaga send you here?” Bucky asked sternly, interrupting her and sitting across from her as the guards flanked him from behind.

“Well, so much for _manners…_ ” Rose murmured as she sat straight in the chair, then she extended her hand(s) for a handshake.

“I’m Rose. Nice to meet you.”

“WHY did Baba Yaga send you?” Bucky repeated, not moving. Rose rolled her eyes and pulled her hand back.

“Because of the bargain you made with her. It’s time to pay up. So let’s just get this over with, and I’ll be on my way. The faster the better. _Please_ \- I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to. This place is a _mess_.” Rose groaned again.

Bucky went stiff, his eyes shifting quickly around the room. “Tell her I changed my mind,” he said quietly.

Rose just stopped and blinked. Was he _seriously…_

“Um, NO. That’s not how it works. You already _got_ your part. Now you gotta pay up. That’s how it goes. And the longer you wait, the longer I have to _stay_ here and I would really like to go home as soon as possible, just...for God’s sake, please don’t make this difficult.”

“I _said_ I changed my mind…” Bucky said again.

“And _I_ said you can’t. So come on. Where’s the baby?”

Rose could see the guards shift uncomfortably behind him, and she grinned. Oh, NOW they were getting it.

“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you haven’t told anyone about this, including your husband and wife, huh? I mean...you’ve _certainly_ had enough time to tell Rogers. He’s the whole reason you’re in this position in the first place. But...ugh, you strong silent types have the _worst_ communication skills.” She looked up at the guards, who stiffened aggressively. “You want _me_ to tell them? Because I can, I just wanted to give you the opportunity...eh, you know, actually, I think I’ll go straight to them. That’ll be so much faster.”

Rose stood, and the men in the room jumped into action, the guards pointing their weapons at her and Bucky standing menacingly, threatening her with his glare. She huffed a bit, brushing some of the dark brown strands of hair out of her darkening blue eyes, her wrists still linked together by the cuffs. “ _General_ Barnes. Either you take me to them, or I’ll go tell them without you. Your choice. Make it snappy.”

She leveled her gaze at him...and he didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Hardly breathed.

“OK, fine. I’ll go on my own.”

As soon as she started to move to the door, the guards opened fire on her. The tiny room was filled with the ear-splitting sound of high-powered gunshots in a tight space, smoke filled the air and casings hit the ground, bullet holes riddled the wall. But when they stopped...Rose just stood there, smiling at them.

“Sorry boys. That’s not gonna work.” And she kept walking.

Instantly, they attacked. The first guard came at her with a strong right hook - she ducked below it and kicked him in the shin, causing him to fold in half; she took the opportunity to bring her knee to his nose and throw him backward. The second tried to charge her and pin her against the wall, but she used his momentum and redirected the force to smash his skull into the swiss-cheese wall behind her. He went down immediately, and the two guards writhed on the floor in pain, out of the fight. Then she looked back at Bucky, her hands still connected by the cuffs, smiling beatifically and guiding her loose hair behind her ear.

“You’ve _gotta_ know how this is gonna go, Barnes. B.Y. doesn’t send people to do her dirty work unless they can get the job done. And believe me, I can. So let’s stop all this nonsense. You need to come clean with your partners, and I need to do what I came here to do.”

Again, Bucky just stared at her, eyes narrowed, shaking slightly as she watched his mind spin with plans for how to stop her...but after a few seconds, she _finally_ saw that resigned look of acceptance. She breathed a sigh of relief - thank _goodness_.

“Alright. Let’s go,” he said stiffly. He turned to the door and twisted the knob, then turned back to see her...and his jaw dropped. Her outfit had completely changed - she was no longer wearing the soiled boots or the dirty combat uniform. Instead, she had on a comfortable pair of Keds, khaki clamdigger pants, and a sleeveless seersucker shirt with a tie at the bottom near her navel. Her hair was pulled back into a casual pony, and the handcuffs were nowhere to be seen. She breezed through the door, smiling brightly.

  
  
“ _THANK_ you. Lead the way, sir,” she said as she shook her hands to get the blood flowing back into them and stepped past the bewildered soldier.

**_—Another twenty minutes later—_ **

Steve and Marina sat across from Rose, watching her suspiciously and shifting uncomfortably on the couch in their shared apartment. Bucky sat in a chair to the side, hands in his hair and obviously nervous. Well, he should be. This was a bargain made over 100 years ago, and he was _just now_ telling them about it.

“So hi, I’m Rose,” she said with a signature smile, extending her hand to Rogers. Marina had a twin in each arm and couldn’t return the gesture, but Steve took Rose’s hand and shook it, still wearing a thoroughly confused and skeptical expression.

“So, what...uh. What’s going on?” Steve asked, looking at Bucky anxiously. Bucky looked up, but he stayed quiet; they seemed to be communicating through looks alone for a moment, which Rose found incredibly interesting. Then Bucky took a deep breath, and began.

“I made a bargain with a witch a long time ago. And now it’s time to pay up.” Bucky said. “When we were on Zola’s train, the day I...fell…” he swallowed hard, then met Steve’s eyes again. “When I fell, this little old woman found me before the soldiers did. Somehow she knew _everything_ , about you, about me...and she said she could reunite us, that she could make it so that we wouldn’t lose each other again. And I was _dying_ , I was desperate...the thought of leaving you alone...I just couldn’t. So I said yes. But I had to--”

Bucky’s throat closed up, and he looked away. Marina held the babies closer to her, and Steve put his hand on Bucky’s thigh, comforting and girding him. With a shuddering sign, Bucky looked at Marina and Steve with rare tears brimming in his eyes.

“I had to give her claim to my firstborn child.”

The room went completely silent - even the twins seemed to notice something was wrong and they started whimpering quietly against Marina’s chest. All three of them froze and stared at Rose, and she looked back at them...then shrugged with a sheepish grin.

“Hey, I didn’t make the deal, I don’t make the rules. I just run the errands. So...can we get this over with?”

“Don’t you have _any_ sympathy?” Marina said through gritted teeth, clutching their babies to her breast.

Rose gave Marina a long-suffering look. “You’re a lawyer. Or...you used to be. You know how contracts work, right? You understand the concept of ‘breach of contract’? If I _don’t_ claim the baby...Bucky dies. Like, immediately. He signed for that.”

Steve’s eyes went wide and he stared at his best friend and partner. “What?! Bucky...what did you _do_?”

“I didn’t think I’d _have_ any children!” Bucky shouted back. “And by the time the twins were born...well, I hoped they were both yours. Then this ‘deal’ would just disappear and we could live out our lives. But I guess not…”

Rose’s heart pounded. It would be _so much easier_ to just let this slide and leave them alone...but it was her _job_ , damnit. “Look...I’m sorry, I really am. But believe me, it’s better I come to do this than Baba Yaga, she would just--”

“Baba YAGA?!” Marina shrieked, interrupting Rose’s half-heartfelt apology, and the poor woman stared wide-eyed at Bucky. “You made a deal with THAT _witch_ ?! Not just a witch...THE witch. Oh...we are fucked. We are _so_ fucked.”

  
  
“You know Baba Yaga?” Steve turned and looked at her with concern.

Marina looked shell shocked, disconnected suddenly from everyone else in the room. Rose recognized that look, the look of complete hopelessness, of realizing pain and loss at a soul-shattering magnitude was about to happen. Like the first time Lauren came to the Corporation whorehouse...Rose shook her head, trying to clear the image. _This isn’t like that._

“Ok, ok, let’s all just try and calm down...I’m not going to hurt the sweet little... _thing…_ ” Ugh, Rose did NOT like babies. They were too delicate and helpless and...stinky. Frankly she preferred the field of corpses to the idea of _raising_ a human child. “But a deal’s a deal. So, if you could just hand over Bucky’s baby, I can do what I came here to do and be on my--”

Marina’s sudden hysterical laughter cut her off. Rose looked at her, disgruntled. _Interrupted me twice in two minutes...I’m just going to chalk that up to new motherhood...for now._

“We don’t even _know_ which baby is from which man!” Marina challenged. “They were...conceived jointly. We would need a paternity test to figure that out, and--”

This time it was Rose’s turn to interrupt. “No, I can do it.”

She quickly reached over and plucked a strand of dark hair off of Bucky’s head, much to the surprise and irritation of everyone else in the room. She spoke the incantation, and one of the babies began to glow. Rose exhaled and smiled with that same fake cheerfulness she had learned during her years in customer service, and she began to reach over. “That’s the one. Now, could you _please--”_

Instantly, the room exploded into chaos. Steve and Bucky both jumped up and stood between Rose and Marina. Marina sunk back into the couch and clutched the children protectively, causing them to start wailing almost as loudly as Captain America and the Winter Soldier were shouting.

“Just who the hell do you think you are?!” bellowed Steve.

“Look, I’m an apprentice, a witch-in-training, and--”

“Get the _FUCK_ away from my family…” Bucky growled.

“You’re just going to _take_ one of our children!” Marina shrieked. “Absolutely not. I won’t let you - WE won’t let you--”

“Wait - _TAKE_ ?!” Rose yelled over the cacophony. Suddenly, all the adults in the room shut up. Rose looked at each of them like they were crazy, anger finally bubbling up and over her well of patience. “Jesus Christ, I’m _not_ going to TAKE your _screaming little shit factory_!”

Everyone stared at each other, Rose glaring at the threesome.

“No, the deal was that Bucky’s firstborn would be _claimed_ by Baba Yaga. As a follower, a worshiper, a...you know, honestly it’s like _nothing_. It’s like baptizing your kid and then letting _them_ decide what religion to follow when they’re old enough. It’s a complete ego trip - B.Y. gets off on shit like this. But FUCK, I am _absolutely_ _not taking_ your baby. What kind of heartless bitch do you think I am? Baba Yaga certainly couldn’t give two shits about—”

“Doesn’t Baba Yaga _eat_ children?” Marina asked, cutting Rose off for a third time. Rose gave her an incredulous look.

“NO! She eats truffled pork chops with garlic mashed potatoes. She eats herb-crusted salmon with a side of seasonal vegetables. And sometimes, when she has the _audacity_ to try and do the cooking without me, she eats _borscht._ But I’ve never known her to eat a BABY.”

The awkward silence that settled over the room could have been cut by a dull blade. Even the children were quiet, somewhat muffled into Marina’s shirt. Rose sighed, exasperated.

“Now, can everyone please settle down so I can do this pointless ritual and go home?”

The three shared a look, seeming to come to a wordless conclusion. Steve gently took Bucky’s daughter from Marina, handing her carefully over to Rose. She took the child from him, barely concealing her nervous look of disgust, and settled the baby into a football hold so she could use her other hand. She put her thumb gently on the baby’s forehead.

“Настоящим я требую этого ребенка для Бабы Яги, великой волшебницы царства Земли и величайшего волшебника всех времен…blah blah blah…”

Where her thumb connected with the child’s skin, a red sigil glowed brightly for a few seconds, then disappeared.

“There, all done, here you go.”

Rose extended the baby back to her parents by the armpits, her chunky little legs dangling limply in the air and a look of confusion on her face, as if to say _The fuck just happened?_ Steve retrieved her gently, cradling his daughter in his arms.

“Now what?” he asked, cautiously.

“Now I say goodbye. Have a nice life, you three. Try not to get eaten out there.”

Rose stood and headed for the door, but before she could leave, Bucky spoke up. “Wait.”

She turned around and faced him, wondering what else they needed.

“So that’s it? The deal is done, the bargain is over?”

“That’s it,” said Rose. “You’re a free man, Buckster. Go make the most of it.” And with that, she walked out of the room and out of their lives. Steve walked to the threshold to see her off, but when he got there...she was gone. Nowhere to be seen. He turned back to his family with a perplexed look.

“So...Bucky...any _other_ secrets you’d like to share with us?”

**—**

Truck was waiting patiently in the woods on the outskirts of the compound when Rose finally returned, this time wearing a full pair of fishing waders as she got through the field of cadavers. It flashed its lights and bounced on its front wheels a bit as she approached, spinning its cement drum back and forth almost like a dog wagging its tail. Rose smiled, patting it on the hood.

“Missed you too, buddy. Sorry that took so long… Ugh, _that_ was a clusterfuck if I’ve ever seen one. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Truck beeped softly in response, lowering its cab down so Rose could climb inside. She shimmered in gold for a moment as her outfit returned to the breezy summer affair she had worn in the compound, and she turned on the engine. The sudden noise was answered by a dozen groans as zombies began to make their way to the source, but before they ever had a chance to get close, Rose and Truck were gone.

**—Another twenty minutes later—**

_At least B.Y. lets me take Truck on my own now…_ Rose mused as the scenery sped by in that strangely normal way, even though they were traversing whole dimensions in mere seconds. _Now I don’t have to listen to her complaints until I get home. AND I get to pick the music…_ she grinned. She bobbed her head along to the familiar sounds of The Beatles playing through Truck’s speakers, _Oblah Dee, Oblah Dah, life goes on_. It was a peaceful, quiet moment, the likes of which she rarely got to enjoy in her life. Relaxing, she took the opportunity to indulge in it.

All too soon, they were pulling up alongside Baba Yaga’s cottage, which shuttered and clucked softly in greeting. But before Rose could even say “Hello” properly, she heard the well-known screech coming from inside.

“Finally you’re back! What took so long?”

Rose groaned as Baba Yaga came out the front door and narrowed her eyes. “How hard is it to put a loyalty sigil on a baby, lazy girl? You should have been back within fifteen minutes - it’s been over an hour! I almost started to cook dinner myself!”

“God, PLEASE, don’t do that,” Rose begged sarcastically as she entered the house with the bag full of fresh vegetables and ingredients, along with a bottle of white wine. “And this mission was NOT ‘a quick stop on my way home from the grocery store’! I had to walk through a field of corpses - TWICE, infiltrate a heavily-militarized compound, overpower two guards - _who shot at me, by the way_ \- and convince the lovebirds that I wasn’t there to _steal_ their baby because they thought you were going to _eat it_! So forgive me, O High Sorceress of the Earth Realm, but I still think I did pretty well on the timing, all things considered.”

“Bah, I haven’t eaten a baby in centuries...” Baba Yaga said dismissively, waving her hand in the air.

Rose’s eyes went wide as she set the bags on the counter. “You...wait, you _have_ eaten babies?! B.Y., what the hell?”

“What? The food options in Siberia back then were very limited. Sometimes you had to eat a baby. It wasn’t a big deal.”

Rose shook her head in disbelief, washing the yellow and green varieties of squash in the sink before setting them aside on a paper towel. Then she grabbed a wooden cutting board and her favorite chef’s knife, and began cutting the squash into thin circles and putting them in a bowl. “I’m pretty sure it’s always been a big deal to EAT BABIES.”

“Ah, what do you know? You’re young. Maybe someday you’ll have to eat a baby, too.” Baba Yaga said offhandedly.

“I AM NOT GOING TO EAT A BABY!” Rose nearly shouted in exasperation. Honestly, some of the things that witch said...

“Eh, we’ll see.” Baba Yaga chuckled, then she came up to the counter, barely tall enough to peer over the edge to see what Rose was preparing. “So, what are we having for dinner? I’m starving.”

“We’re having ratatouille with Chablis.” Rose responded, slapping the old woman’s hand as she tried to steal some of the sliced squash from the bowl in front of her. “By the way, why _did_ you do that for Bucky? Helping dying young men isn’t your usual M.O.”

“Well...it’s not every day a handsome soldier comes falling from the sky and lands right in front of you. And he looked so pathetic there in the snow...I don’t know, I was feeling soft that day...don’t look too much into it.”

“You? Soft? Never. If word of that got out, your reputation would be ruined.”

“Now you see why it’s better people think I eat babies,” B.Y. chuckled as she reached for the squash again. Rose laughed and smacked her away once more.

“Yes, now _get out_ of the kitchen and go do whatever it is you do while I cook, you cantankerous, baby-eating hag,” Rose said with a slight grin.

“Fine, you impudent young смутьян. And maybe someday you’ll learn to respect your elders.”

“All the magic in the world won’t make that happen, and you know it. But I’ll make an exception for you.”

“Bet your ass,” B.Y. snorted under her breath, and Rose rolled her eyes as the old witch walked out of the small kitchen, still amazed that she had found such a wonderful friend in the chaos and madness that had become her life. But if there was one thing she had learned, it was that the more she chose to dance in the chaos instead of fight it, the better her life became.

And if things kept going the way they had been...her life was sure to be incredible.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> Настоящим я требую этого ребенка для Бабы Яги, великой волшебницы царства Земли и величайшего волшебника всех времен: I hereby claim this baby for Baba Yaga, high sorceress of the Earth realm and greatest magic wielder of all time
> 
> смутьян: troublemaker, firebrand, mischief-maker
> 
> Please leave your comments and let me know what you think! :) I love to read them.


End file.
